Hetty, they're a genus of about 360 species, ranging from equatorial climates where I am down to the mediterranean climates of the south of the country. And they range from tall trees down to small shrubs and ground covers. Of course now there's hundreds of cultivars on top of that. They're quite popular in gardens here being colourful and attracting nectar feeding birds and insects. They're part of the Protea family.

Tropicbreeze, We do grow some cultivars in So. California, but I have never seen that one. I wasn't aware they were in the protea family. I guess that explains why I had no success with the one I had years ago.

Carol, I think California has a mediterranean climate so should be okay for most of the southern Australian species.

Grevillea dryandri grows in sandy well drained soil and is an equatorial savanna plant, that's hot, very wet and humid wet-season, and a hot dry, dry-season (winter) . One of our local Grevilleas (G. pteridifolia) mainly grows as a small tree in swamps and is waterlogged or flooded for most of the year. It varies a lot between species.